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An education is a dangerous thing. Scary dangerous. So scary that 19th century plantation owners whipped their slaves for becoming literate, 20th century Nazis burned piles of books, and within the past decade the jihadist militant group Boko Haram has murdered hundreds of Nigerian students whose only crime was to pursue a “Western education.” What is it about a basic education that tyrants and terrorists find so unsettling?

Certainly it makes no difference to them that we can add two and two. Nor should they care that we can locate Greece or Syria on a map. It is not the ability to find the right answers that makes education a fearsome tool; rather, it is the ability to ask the hard questions. We call this skill critical thinking. When used properly, it is the best tool we have and our greatest hope for advancing the world towards peace and prosperity.

In all aspects of life there is room for improvement. It is the responsibility of the global citizen to question the status quo and push for progress with equal vigor in all spheres, from the sociopolitical to the environmental. Moreover, it is a leader’s duty not just to encourage this sort of thinking, but to insist upon it.

Consider Cesar Herada, an inventor and entrepreneur who has dedicated his life to developing environmental cleanup technologies. In the wake of the 2010 BP oil spill, Herada began to develop a revolutionary sailboat design as a way to sweep oil off the ocean surface more efficiently. As he worked, Herada published his progress online and scientists around the globe began to tackle the problem. As development continued, each contributor posted his progress back to the original project, called Protei.

Herada has shown remarkable leadership by tossing the old method of competitive research in exchange for a completely collaborative open source project. By questioning tradition and putting the needs of the world ahead of his own self-interests, Herada found a way to tap into the remarkable potential of human cooperation. Such achievement is the promise of critical thinking.

Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani girl, also realized the power of asking questions. She did not understand why the Taliban would forbid girls from attending school, so she began work on a blog about her experiences with the terrorist group. Her work garnered international attention and praise. In October 2012 the Taliban tried to kill Malala to silence her ideas, but she survived. And her voice? It was amplified to a truly global level.

In the wake of the assassination attempt, the UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown launched a petition in Malala’s name with the goal of achieving access to school for all children by the year 2015. This story highlights irrefutable progress towards the betterment of society on a global level. Malala’s experience has been so impactful not just because she dared to ask a question, but also because she made the world stop and ask the question too.

Good leaders encourage others to educate themselves. The best leaders provide others with the courage to use that education as a tool to question the world—to take a microscope to tradition and scrutinize the status quo with a fine-tooth comb. If we do not ask this ambition of every global citizen, if leaders are as satisfied simply to be shepherds as followers are to be sheep, then at best we are wasting vast amounts of individual potential, and at worst we may never realize our global potential to be a peaceful and healthy society.

Our challenge then, is to reconstruct our views of education. The process does not start at matriculation, nor does it end at graduation. We must be on a relentless journey toward self-betterment. We must ask questions of ourselves and the people and institutions around us, so as to increase our knowledge as a society. We must make it our duty as leaders to encourage these same values in everyone, in every situation.

It is our firm belief that if we hold these responsibilities with conviction, humanity will find within itself an ability to develop peacefully and prosperously at a pace we have never before experienced.

The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the position of the United States Military Academy, the Department of the Army, or the Department of Defense